About 1,000 health-care students at Camosun College will step into a new building this month offering a different approach in education.
Camosun students taking courses to prepare them for a career in health care — such as nursing, radiography or laboratory work — will study in the just-finished Alex and Jo Centre for Health and Wellness.
The centre is a $63.8-million facility at Camosun’s Interurban Campus named for Thrifty Foods founder and philanthropist Alex Campbell and his wife, Jo. Its 8,900 square metres has classrooms, labs, simulated hospital environments and socializing areas to prepare students for careers in health care.
Camosun educators say having students in a variety of health-care fields studying in one building with spaces for meeting and interacting will inspire a broad-thinking approach to the field.
“It’s just an absolutely amazing facility,” Camosun president Sherri Bell said in an interview.
Camosun is welcoming 19,000 students with a week-long celebration called CamFest 2019. Bell spent several hours Tuesday afternoon scooping ice cream for students and chatting with them as part of the welcome event. “This is my favourite time of the year,” she said.
New this school year at Camosun is a free shuttle bus for students to and from Langford. The bus leaves Langford at 7:15 a.m. and leaves the Interurban campus to head back at 4:40 p.m.
The Centre for Sport and Exercise Education, on the Interurban campus, is introducing a massage therapy program. Camosun is the first college in the province to offer such a program. In the past, only private instruction was available.
At the University of Victoria, about 4,500 new students arrived on campus Tuesday for orientation day. The entire incoming class gathered at the CARSA gym for a welcoming ceremony.
Tours of the libraries and sessions to meet with faculty members and become familiar with upcoming courses are part of orientation week.
Classes for the remainder of UVic’s total 22,000 students will begin by next week.
At Vancouver Island University in Nanaimo, 2,300 new students arrived. It’s estimated this term will see 9,000 students attend and, before the 2019-2020 school year ends, more than 14,000 will have enrolled.
Tuesday was the first day of the first term for new Vancouver Island University president Deborah Saucier, who took over from Ralph Nilson in July.
“Education is a truly transformative experience and the best part of my job is watching students use their newfound knowledge to a make a difference in the world,” said Saucier in her welcoming remarks.
rwatts@timescolonist
